Heisman finalist Manziel vows he's ready for the NFL

Published 10:32 pm, Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press

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Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel addresses media about his decision-making process regarding the NFL and other topics prior to tonight's College Football Awards show Wednesday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel addresses media about his decision-making process regarding the NFL and other topics prior to tonight's College Football Awards show Wednesday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press

Heisman finalist Manziel vows he's ready for the NFL

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COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Johnny Manziel, a man of few statements this season, has offered his most definitive statement yet that he intends to enter the 2014 NFL draft.

“I feel like I'm playing, for the most part, at a really high level of football,” Manziel told reporters gathered near Orlando, Fla., for the Home Depot College Football Awards news conferences. “I'm putting the ball where I want it to be, and I'm throwing it with a lot of velocity ... in my mind, I think I'm (ready).”

Manziel, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, said he intends to visit with quarterback guru George Whitfield, A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, A&M quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital and Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury — his offensive coordinator at A&M last year — among others over the next few weeks in evaluating whether he's truly ready for the next level.

Manziel, a Kerrville Tivy product, said his primary focus is trying to lead A&M to a third consecutive bowl victory when the 8-4 Aggies face 10-3 Duke on New Year's Eve in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

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“All of the draft (talk) will come eventually,” said Manziel, who visited with the media for the first time this season in a casual, non-postgame setting. “But to sit here and say it's not on my mind ... that wouldn't be very truthful.”

Manziel, who sat out the first half of the season opener against Rice because of an NCAA violation concerning autographs and as a result declined interviews that weren't after games, for the first time extensively addressed injuries that appeared to hamper him in a blowout loss at LSU and a narrow setback at Missouri to close out the regular season.

He said his “whole leg was completely bruised and swollen” during the Nov. 30 Missouri game, and the thumb on his throwing hand “is a nagging injury, and something that's not wanting to go away immediately, but we're still working on.”

“I was just beat up at the end of a tough stretch in the SEC,” Manziel said. “It's a tough conference.”

The Aggies started the season ranked seventh but rated 21st in the final Bowl Championship Series standings. Manziel, who turned 21 Friday, was as forthright as any Aggie has been (including the coaches) about the program's slide following a 45-41 loss on Oct. 19 at Kyle Field to Auburn, which is playing Florida State for the national title.

“Whether it was we had the wind knocked out of us, or it was just one we felt like we should have won and didn't ... after that, we didn't have the same confidence or swagger as a unit that we needed,” he said. “Toward the end of the season, we just weren't meshing as a group, and you have to have that.”

The awards show takes place Thursday night on ESPN. Manziel is a finalist for the Maxwell and O'Brien awards. He's also one of six finalists for the Heisman, which FSU quarterback Jameis Winston is expected to win by a comfortable margin Saturday in New York.

Meanwhile, A&M sophomore receiver Mike Evans, the school's record-holder for yards in a season and a finalist for the Biletnikoff award, told reporters he's still mulling whether to turn pro.